February 12, 2010

Who Is This Guy?

I am currently going through the CIA inspector general’s report about its interrogation and detention programme. This passage, about the interrogation of Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi from page 86 of the report, has me baffled:

For example, Mustafa Ahmad Adam al-Hawsawi, the al-Qaeda financier who was captured with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, provided the Agency’s first intelligence pertaining to [redacted name of around 20 characters]—another participant in the 9/11 terrorist plot. [Redacted] Hawsawi’s information to obtain additional details about [shorter version of redacted name’s] role from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed [redacted phrase or sentence].

Who is that guy? Al-Hawsawi was allegedly captured in early March 2003, so this information would have probably been given up shortly after that, 18 months after the attacks. Surely, everybody’s role was known by then? This has got me baffled. Also, why redact the name? Since when have the names of al-Qaeda operatives involved in 9/11 been secret?

Here’s al-Hawsawi’s substitution for testimony at the Zacarias Moussaoui trial. He names numerous operatives involved in 9/11: several of the hijackers; KSM; Moussaoui; Ramzi bin al-Shibh; and Muhammed al-Khatani. As far as I can see, nobody’s name is redacted here. Weird.